Mostly about my backyard chickens. (Boring, I know), but there are a lot of us out here. Mine are only kept as pampered pets. I could eat a neighbor's chicken, but not MINE. There may be a comment on current events only if I get riled up enough. And there will always be a cartoon or a joke to cheer us. I promise to try my very best to respond to comments. Now I have to figure out how this blogger thingy works....

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Was wandering around the web looking for some 'different' types of sculptures to post on the blog and came across this amazing sculptor. His work just blew me away. Oh, to have one of his pieces!

If you have ever wondered how bronze sculpture is made, you will be fascinated by this:

Soure: http://www.parkwestgallery.com/artist/nano-lopez

Nano Lopez was born October 31, 1955, in Bogota
Colombia. He was recognized early in his life for his artistic talent
when he was awarded first place in a municipal school drawing contest at
the age of five. By high school, he was making serious copies of the
Masters including Michelangelo’s sculptures and paintings.
Nano continued his upper division studies and studio work at the
School of David Manzur, The Rembrandt Academy, and the National
University in Bogota. In 1978, he traveled to Spain and began working
for the sculptor Francisco Baron. While with Francisco, Nano carved
marble and granite and fabricated in steel. He worked all three
materials on a monumental scale. It was in Madrid that he began casting
his own works in bronze and held his first single artist show. After
several years of learning in Madrid, Nano traveled to France, where he
furthered his studies, showing his work more often. He attended the
Superior National School of Beaux Art in Paris,
and focused his studies in new materials, discovering the versatility of various casting media.
In 1981, he returned to Bogota to build a studio and put to use the
methods he had learned in Europe. In 1983, Nano moved again this time to
the Pacific Northwest area of the United States. He began to work with
Manuel Izquierdo, head of the sculpture department at the Pacific
Northwest College of Art. During the following four years, he was
employed by various bronze foundries in the Northwest, and further
developed his techniques in welding, and tooling of bronzes.
Additionally, he continued to learn and develop skillful and original
uses of patinas.
Nano began his own business in 1987 in Walla Walla, Washington,
model-making, reducing and enlarging maquettes to monumental sizes.
There was a great demand for Nano’s talent by both artists and
foundries. In 2001 and 2002, Nano designed, built, and moved into his
custom building. It contains very high ceilings with skylights and 8,000
square feet of floor space. Nano’s attractive building is enhanced by
artistic landscaping and a beautiful scenic pond. It now serves as his
personal studio space.
Nano has become successful in the production and marketing of his
fine art bronzes and no longer takes on the business of enlargements.
This frees up his time for the creation of his own work. His “Nanimals”
engage viewers of all ages and reflect a sense of playfulness, intense
creativity, and wonder. The combination of Nano’s classical training,
experimentation with materials, and extensive experience, has led to the
production of avant-garde art, which combines aesthetic considerations
and rich textural surfaces. Nano’s work invites us to experience a range
of emotions from joyful sense of wonder and creativity to deeply felt
emotions relating to the human struggle.

...an A & P, closed down yesterday. Acme will be taking over the store next week. Hubby and I took a run over to see if there were any deals to be had. The store is about seven miles away and you are welcome to join us for the ride!

An equestrian center (about a five minute walk from our house)

The new owners have spent a lot of money making this a top-notch place!

Heading to town - we pass a hill that still has some colorful leaves:

Going down hill. In the winter you can see the ski slopes way off in the distance:

Say what you want about Joisey, but the fuel is cheap (for a while)!

The store was brightly lit, but almost all the shelves were empty. They had Ronzoni pasta on sale for 99 cents a box. We bought 15. The deli was closed and so was the butcher shop. Not much frozen food was left either. I'm kind of nostalgic about A&P - used to work in their corporate office back in the 70's. It's a shame really how they went downhill in the last 20 years. Not good management to think that charging $2.29 for a can of peas will make you money. (those shelves were FULL). Oh well, I hope Acme has better prices.

Our little airport - lots of sky diving done from here. The plane that carries the jumpers circles our house as it goes higher and higher. From oldest son's house, you can watch them jump out!

Monday, October 26, 2015

Medieval Knight Jousting

What is jousting?

it is a tradition that comes out of the middle ages where two knights
mounted on horses and armed with lances charged at each other. The goal
was to knock the other knight off his horse. This was often done in
tournaments for knights to practice their skills, show off their
abilities and to establish their rank within the community.

Where did jousting come from?

Originally, in the early centuries of knighthood knights would often
fight vicious battles against each other to establish supremacy and find
out who the better knight was. But over the centuries this practice was
eliminated because it served no good purpose for knights of the same
kingdom to wound, maim or kill each other. A knight killed this way was
one less knight that could fight for the kingdom. So jousting came into
prominence because it was much safer. Knights could still battle and
establish their stature while not usually harming each other.

What did they use to joust with?

The traditional weapon for jousting was the lance. This is because the
lance was actually one of the most effective weapons that a knight had.
It was a long weapon, sometimes as long as twelve feet. And it was used
by a knight on horseback to charge through enemy formations of soldiers.
the length of it allowed the knight to attack the enemy while still
remaining a distance away from their weapons. Because it was so
important a weapon it was very highly regarded and knights were always
ready to show off their skills with it.But the lance
was a very dangerous weapon and in order to insure they did not harm
their opponent in the joust lances were specially made. These specially
made lances were often made of soft wood, were hollow and very blunted
at the end, or even covered with some kind of a ball. Having a blunted
or balled end would cause a tremendous impact to the opposing knight but
not pierce his armor. In addition the hollowness of the lance would
often cause it to break harmlessly.

What is that metal cone shaped object on the lance near where the knight holds it?

That is called a Vamplate. It was designed to protect the knights hand
and to stop his hand from sliding up the lance upon impact. These
vamplates on jousting lances were often extremely large. This would also
help in causing the opposing knights lance to slide away..

Jousting and the ceremony

Jousting developed into a show all its own and for many gatherings,
ceremonies and events the jousting tournament was the highlight. Even
today we still have jousting tournaments at Renaissance faires. This
tradition of jousting as a spectacle has given us some wonderful
costumes, outfits, clothing and regalia from the Medieval Period.

About Me

Mostly about my backyard chickens (Boring, I know), but there are a lot of us out here. Mine are only kept as pampered pets. I could eat a neighbor's chicken, but not MINE. There may be a comment on current events only if I get riled up enough. And there will always be a cartoon or a joke to cheer us. I promise to try my very best to respond to comments. Now I have to figure out how this blogger thingy works....